Join Rick Hughes on The Flatline as he delves into the profound aspects of faith, exploring what it means to walk by faith and not by sight. With references to Biblical Scriptures, this episode provides listeners with insights on how faith can anchor one’s life amidst adversities, emphasizing that while adversity is inevitable, stress is optional. Learn about the important Greek terms that underline the Christian method of living a faith-driven life, transcending the external appearances that often mislead.
Rick further explains the concept of faith rest, where trust in God’s plans equips believers with peace and resilience in their
Welcome to the Flatline with your host, Rick Hughes. For the next 30 minutes, you’ll be inspired, motivated, educated, but never manipulated. Now, your host, Rick Hughes.
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Good morning and welcome to the Flatline. I’m your host, Rick Hughes, and thank you for joining me. Hang around for about 30 minutes of inspiration, motivation, education, but absolutely no manipulation because we don’t con people here. We’re not trying to raise money. We’re not going to offer to sell you anything. We simply want to give you information that could help you verify and identify the plan of God for your life. If I can do that, then you have the freedom and the privacy to orient and adjust to that plan. But that’s up to you. If you’re a new listener, the FLOT line, F-L-O-T, stands for Forward Line of Troops. What we’re teaching is 10 unique problem-solving devices found in the Bible. And if you will learn them and use them or deploy them, And you will be able to stop the outside sources of adversity from ever becoming the inside source of stress. That’s why you’ll hear us say that adversity is, of course, inevitable, but stress is always optional. Because adversity is what circumstances do to you, and stress is what you do to yourself. So the Flatline may be new in your radio station in your area. We’ve added about 28, almost 30 new stations in the last month. So give us a listen. Stick with us for a few minutes. Let me know what you think. Today we’re going to study a verse that’s very important. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 7. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 7. And that verse says, For we walk by faith, not by sight. We walk by faith and not by sight. So we want to study the power of faith. When this verse says we walk by faith, walk is the Greek word from the Greek New Testament, peripatao, it means to live a lifestyle. And it says not by sight, and eidos is the Greek word for sight, E-I-D-O-S, eidos. And that means we don’t look at external appearances. so the believer is done is to walk by faith not by looking at external appearances remember moses in the red sea and all the pharaoh’s men coming up behind him and everybody thinking we’re not going to make it we’re going to get killed and god said walk through the red sea and go out the other side and they did so they didn’t live by sight they lived by faith so this morning i want to talk to you about what is faith we hear about living by faith all the time you’ll hear all kind of pastors talk about you need to live by faith But what exactly does that mean? All right. So let’s start by looking at the word in the original Greek New Testament. Remember, the Bible was not written in English. It was written in Greek, Koine Greek, some Aramaic, some Hebrew. But faith, the word faith is a Greek word pronounced pistis, P-I-S-T-I-S, pistis. And it means to believe or to trust or to have confidence. That’s a noun. There is a verb counterpart, and that verb is believed. So one is faith and the other is believe. Believe is pronounced pisteuo, P-I-S-T-E-U-O. So in order for you or me to have an eternal relationship with God, there’s something we must first believe. We must believe. 1 Thessalonians 4.14 says, for if we believe, pisteuo, there it is, if is a third class condition, means maybe you will, maybe you won’t, But if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus. So faith is the act of believing. And it usually means you trust or you have confidence in the object of your faith. The question I want to ask you this morning is what is the object of your faith? I mean, if you get into your automobile and you believe it will faithfully carry you to your destination, It’s what happened to me this afternoon. I drove to my office, and you’re hearing it in the morning, but I recorded it in the afternoon. So I got in my car, drove to my office, and I had faith that my car would get me here, assuming I gassed it up first, and I did. So if you get on an airplane, you’ve got to have faith, or you believe that airplane is going to take you safely to your destination. So having faith, F-A-I-T-H, in Jesus Christ, our Lord, means you trust what he endured on the cross, that his death satisfied the payment that God demanded for sin. And what was the payment? It’s told us in Romans 6, 23. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. So either you die or he died. And the fact is the Lord Jesus Christ died for you in your place. On the cross, Jesus actually died two deaths. Not many people talk about that. But the first death was spiritual death when he assumed the sins of mankind. All of my sin, all of your sin was dumped out on him. How do I know that? Because 2 Corinthians 5, 21 tells me that. For he, that’s God, made him, that’s Christ, the one who knew no sin to be sin for us in order that we might become the righteousness of God by means of him. So the very moment that all of my sins and your sins were imputed to him, he cried out these words. Listen carefully. Matthew 27, 46. About the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lema sabachani. And what is that? It is my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? So when all of our sins were dumped out on him on that cross, God the Father and God the Holy Spirit turned away, and there he was forsaken, hanging on the cross by himself for that terrible moment. And then when it was over, here’s what he said in John 19, 28. After this, after our sins were imputed to him, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished so the scripture could be fulfilled, he said, I thirsty, And a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there and they filled it with a sponge with sour wine and put it to his mouth. And when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. That’s the Greek word tetelestai, it is finished. and he bowed his head, and then listen carefully, he gave up his spirit. The act of surrendering his spirit was a physical death that was required in order for the promised resurrection to take place. So when you place your faith or your belief in this event, you’re trusting and have confidence that Jesus paid the price to purchase your salvation. In other words, salvation requires faith, Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it’s a gift of God, not of works as anyone should boast. So notice you’ve been saved through faith or because of your faith. So salvation and eternal life are provided free as a gift from God, so you’re never required to earn that forgiveness because Jesus took our place and met the required judgment for sin. So faith is believing or trusting in what Christ did by means of his death, burial, and resurrection. In 1 Corinthians 15, 3-4, Paul wrote, For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins, there it is, according to the scriptures, and then he was buried, and then he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. So we are saved as a result of our faith, and now we’re told to live our life by faith. In that passage, we walk by faith, not by sight. That’s the passage we had. That’s where we started. So what does it mean to walk by faith? It means to trust. Faith means to trust. Faith means it requires you to believe that God has a plan and a destiny for you. If you’re going to do this, if you’re going to walk by faith, you got to believe that. Paul wrote it this way. I’ve been crucified with Christ. It’s no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith. There it is. We walk by faith, not by sight. So Paul said it. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Walking by faith is a consistent daily trust in God’s grace for visions rather than demanding some sort of empirical evidence for every decision you have to make. However, you cannot trust and obey what you don’t know. Thus, to be a faithful Christian rather than to be an unfaithful Christian requires you to learn and trust the plan of God for your life. I think it all starts by understanding grace. That’s where it has to start. In 2 Peter 3.18, we find a mandate here, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That’s a command, to grow in grace and knowledge. In a coming show, I’ll spend a lot of time explaining grace orientation. But for now, let’s look at this Greek word for grow. The word grow is the Greek word auxano, A-U-X-A-N-O. And that’s a verb. It means to increase or become greater. So this verb was used by the Apostle Peter when he wrote this. And it’s an imperative mood verb, which means it’s a command. It’s not a request. The key here is there can be no growth in your life spiritually unless you understand grace. There can be no growth in your life spiritually if you don’t understand grace. So to put it bluntly, pretty bluntly here, you are being unfaithful if you’re not growing spiritually. Notice what the writer of Hebrews said about this in Hebrews 5, 11 through 13. He wrote, of whom we have much to say and hardly explain since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be a teacher, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God. And you have come to need milk and not solid food, for everyone who partakes of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness. He’s still a baby. Dull of hearing means you’re not interested in the scriptures. You can’t pay attention when the word of God is taught. You don’t take notes. You don’t write them down. You don’t revisit them. Some of you listening to me this morning, you might not like what I’m about to tell you, but the Holy Spirit is speaking to you right now through this passage. You have been saved for many years, but you have not been faithful to study and grow spiritually. Thus, even though you have been saved for many years, you still are a spiritual baby. You’re not able to walk or stand on your own. To you, the Bible is nothing but a crutch to help you when you’re in trouble or in need. It’s not really your daily guide to living. Thus, you are unfaithful. Do you hear me? You are unfaithful to obey what the Scriptures teach you to do. In 2 Timothy 2.15, the Bible says, “…study to show yourself approved unto God.” a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. You could say needeth not to be unfaithful, because you have to be faithful to study and grow and learn God’s plan. You might wonder why the scriptures demand you study them. Why would God insist you study the Bible? The reason is so your faith can increase. Listen to Romans 10, 17. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So as you hear the scriptures taught, you’re hearing God speaking to you. And you have the opportunity to apply what you’re hearing. So you develop trust in God’s plan. And that trust is none other than your faith in action when you put it into action. In other words, if you trust God, you will obey God. 1 John 5, 3, for this is the love of God, here it is, that we keep his mandates, and his mandates are not hard. So if you love him, you will keep his mandates, you will obey him, you trust him. This might come as a shock to you, but faith demands obedience. Let’s note the faith of Abraham, the father of the Jews, when God told him he’s going to have to sacrifice his own son in Genesis 22, 1 and 2. And it came to pass after these things that God did test Abraham and said to him, Abraham. And he said, yes, sir, here I am. He said, take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love us and get you to the land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I’ll tell you about, show you. In Genesis 22, 9 and 10, and they came to the place which God had told him of, and Abraham built an altar there, laid the wood in order, bound his son Isaac up, laid him on the altar on the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to kill his son. In Genesis 22, 11 through 13, the angel of the Lord called out to him out of heaven and said, Abraham, stop. Abraham, stop. He said, here I am. Don’t lay your hand on that lad, neither do anything to him, for now I know, I can see that you trust God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son from me. So Abraham lifted up his eyes, and he looked, and behold, behind him a ram, a ram, was caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered him for a burnt offering instead of his son. This act of faith or obedience is spoken of in Hebrews 11, 17, where it says, By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac, and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son. So Abraham’s faith, first tested by God, then told where to go. And listen to Hebrews 11.8. By faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out unto a place where he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed, obeyed. And he went out not knowing whether he was going. In this passage, it’s clear that faith requires obedience. So he had to have faith to trust God and obey God. In John 6, 29, the Lord made it clear that faith requires obedience. Listen to this verse, John 6, 29. Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the work of God. What is the work of God? Here it is, that you believe on him whom he has sent. Obedience, obedience, pastuo, faithful. So if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, that’s what’s required to be saved. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, the Bible says. The word believe is a verb. It requires action. Listen to John 14.1. Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. Believe also in me was not a request, but it was a mandate from the Lord Jesus Christ, and it required obedience. He had to obey it. That verb pastuo is believe, and it was a present active imperative in this passage in John 14, 1. Present tense means it occurred at a point in time. It keeps occurring. Active voice, the subject produces the action of the verb. The imperative moves as a command. Believe in me. That’s a command. salvation requires you to be obedient, to believe in what he did, believe in who he is. It’s simply believe. Why is that all it requires? Well, because the work was already done. Either you believe it or you don’t believe it because it’s an act of obedience. Acts 16, 31, and they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved and your house. We have again another mandate to believe, which is an act of your volition. where you are being obedient to what God tells you to do. So let’s emphasize this for you. Faith requires you to believe, or in other words, to obey. And this is demonstrated by your trust in what God tells you to do. I’m not telling you to stop sinning to be saved. That’s not what I’m saying. But what I am telling you is you must believe in who Christ is and what he has done for you, the work he’s done for you. Either you believe it and you receive eternal life, or you reject it and you suffer the consequences. Because the Bible says this very clearly in John 3.18, He that believeth on him is not condemned. but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Do you hear that? If you don’t believe, you’re going to suffer the consequences. What don’t you want? There was an old commercial like that. What don’t you want? Either you want this or you want that. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already. If you don’t believe that Jesus Christ is the anointed son of God, if you don’t believe that his death upon the cross and the resurrection secured your salvation, then you are already condemned. Already. And if you have believed, you’re already what? Free from condemnation. You’re not condemned. So that’s the beautiful thing about faith. You know what faith does? When you obey and when you trust God, faith gives you rest. Rest. It’s a relaxed mental attitude. You can call it peace. Faith produces rest and peace. In other words, you have no worries since you are confident that God is in charge and God will handle whatever comes your way. Listen to this Old Testament passage in Exodus 33, 14. And he said, my presence will go with thee and I will give you rest. Rest. Any believer, you, me, or any other believer who trusts God is exercising faith rest. That’s what it is, faith rest. And look what it produces. When you exercise faith rest, you can relieve this passage right here. I used to speak in a lot of schools before I got older and couldn’t travel as much. And this is one thing that every teacher that I met always wanted to know that was a Christian. Isaiah 54, 17. So if you’re a teacher, this verse is for you. No weapon that is formed against you shall ever prosper. And every tongue that shall rise up against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, says the Lord. There’s a divine promise for you, and you can rest in that promise. If you believe that and put your faith in that and trust that, then you can rest. Faith rests. Psalm 4, verse 8, I will both lay me down in peace and sleep, for you, Lord, only make me dwell in safety. My pastor years ago, when he developed this concept, he called it faith rest. That’s what I’m telling you this morning on this radio show. Those 10 unique problem-solving devices that we talk about on the Flatline, the first three are the rebound passage, 1 John 1, 9, where you learn how to handle sin and failure of sin. The second problem-solving device is the filling of the Holy Spirit, where you learn not to let the old sin nature control your life, but to let the Holy Spirit control your life. And the third problem-solving device is your faith rest, where you have the confidence to stand behind the promises that God tells you. And you can relax and rest easy. Faith rest. That’s what I’m telling you this morning on this radio show. Rest easy, rest up, and have confidence in his divine promises and his divine provisions. If you would like to, I would like for you to order my free book called These Things. It’s a funny title for a book, but These Things. What is that? In John 15, 11, Jesus said the word, these things I taught you. And these things refers to everything that he taught them the last night that he was with them in the upper room discourse. From John 13 to John 15, 11 is these things. And you will find in that book how we’ll cover each one of the very basic doctrines he taught them that night. So you can call to order that book at 800-831-0718. 800-831-0718. Or you can write and request the book at P.O. Box 100, Cropwell, Alabama, at Rick Hughes Ministries. Rick Hughes Ministries. You can always go to our website, rickhughesministries.org. rickhughesministries.org, and there you can see all the different books we offer, so many of them free. Every one of them is free. We don’t sell anything. That may be something you might be interested in in this radio show. We now play at over 160 radio stations every Sunday morning. Not one time do we ask for offerings. Not one time do we sell anything. Not one time do we give this slight hint that we need money. We go to the Lord and ask him to pay for this. We trust God will pay for it. If he doesn’t pay for it, we’ll shut it down. We won’t be able to afford it. But if he does pay for it, then we know that he wants us to keep going. So we have to trust in that. And that’s what we do on this radio show called The Flatline. The Flotline, maybe the first time you’ve heard it. We’re going to be back next Sunday, same time. But don’t forget, The Flotline is 10 unique problem-solving devices. And I didn’t develop this, my pastor developed it years ago, but he encouraged me to teach it. So it’s those 10 unique problem solving devices that stop the outside sources of adversity before they become the inside source of stress. That’s why we said earlier, adversity is always inevitable. Stress is, of course, optional. Stress is what you do to yourself. Adversity is what those circumstances do to you. You can’t ever stop adversity, but you definitely can stop stress. You don’t have to worry about anything. You don’t have to be afraid of anything. You don’t have to have all those mental attitude sins. That’s where a lot of people miss it. They don’t understand that you can sin by what you think. Fear is a sin because the Bible says, what time I’m afraid, I will trust in you. So you don’t ever have to be afraid. I remember the disciples in Matthew 8 as they went in the boat and went across the Sea of Galilee and a storm came up and they freaked out. And they were screaming, save us, save us, save us. And the Lord stood up and stopped the storm and just said, stop it, quit. And the seas got slick. And he called them short-time trusters because they had no faith. They actually believed that Jesus led them in the boat and led them out in the middle of the Sea of Galilee to kill them. And, of course, that was ludicrous. Short-time trusters. What about you? Are you one of those short-time trusters? Do you have faith? Do you actually believe and apply into your life what he says do? Remember the word faith is the Greek word pistos, and the word believe is pistouo. One’s a noun, one’s a verb. What God wants you to do is to believe what he tells you to do. So I gave you that verse, study to show thyself approved unto God. I work with that need not to be ashamed, writing the word of truth. In a future show, we’re gonna come back and show you why that’s important. Because if you’re going to live the Christian life, you must have grace orientation, and you must have biblical orientation. If you put those two things together, you have a balance of residency in your life, much like a seesaw. One on one end, one on the other end, and they balance out. You can live a balanced life, full of rest, full of peace, full of joy, filled with the Holy Spirit, studying and learning and growing in God’s plan if you live by faith. That’s the only way to live, to live by faith. So rest easy. Let your fears and your doubts and your mistrust be gone. God’s in control. The same one that kept you alive today will keep you alive tomorrow. And if you’re not alive tomorrow, it was time to go. One of my precious friends passed away quickly last week. It was his time to go. He got called to the home office quickly. That will happen to all of us one day, sooner or later. We’ll all have to report to the home office. I don’t know when your time is coming, but one final question before I close today. If God calls your number, are you prepared? Will you be in heaven? Will you see him face to face? He that believeth shall not perish, but have everlasting life, the Bible says. And he that believeth not, the wrath of God abides on him already. You haven’t received Jesus Christ as your Savior. You’re already under God’s discipline. I encourage you to pray. Tell God the Father you’re believing in Jesus Christ and that you would like to receive him as your Savior. Tell him you trust in the work he did on the cross for your salvation. And that will be the day that you begin your life all over again. It’s the new life in Christ, a new person you’ll be, not on the outside, but on the inside, having an eternal relationship with a loving God, a loving Father that loves you and will provide for your every need. Okay? Well, I thank you for listening this morning. If you’re a first-time listener, thank you especially. Please come back next week, same time, same channel. Until then, this is your host, Rick Hughes, saying thank you for listening to The Flatline.
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Thank you for listening to The Floodline with your host, Rick Hughes. If you’d like to contact Rick, please write to him at P.O. Box 100, Cropwell, Alabama, 35054, or online at www.rickhughesministries.org.
